Because I've never read a Pike novel I've got no idea what kinds of books he writes. What I enjoyed most about the story was not knowing exactly where it was headed. When the girls head down to the resort for some skiing a couple of older guys show up to act as red herrings, one of them with a creepy story about napalm that works into the theme nicely. Things seem off right away, with Lara discovering a patch of ice where a snowman used to be, and Nell's bizarre mood swings only serving to put her further on edge. Pike does a great job of setting up the situation and layering in the menace. I wasn't expecting anything earth-shattering from 'Slumber Party', so I was pleasantly surprised to find an entirely competent light thriller. So it's understandable that Nell might still have some raw nerves about the whole situation. Nell's face and arms were terribly burned in the ordeal, and Nicole died in the hospital a few days later. It might have been a manageable situation if Lara hadn't tried to douse the flame with a bottle of what turned out to be brandy. What had started out as a simple game of Ouija had turned tragic, when Nell's younger sister Nicole had caught on fire from a knocked-over candle.
You see, the four main girls are visiting their old friend Nell - who they haven't spent any significant time with since a disastrous slumber party some eight years earlier. Also along for the ride is Celeste, Lara's new friend who's younger than the rest of them, having just transferred to their high school that year.ĭespite the happy occasion there's something of a pall over the whole affair. The girls are Lara (the main character), Dana (her insecure friend), Rachel (the bitchy one), and Mindy (the one without a personality). It's the story of a group of 5 girlfriends (all high-school seniors, with one exception) who head up to visit a sixth friend's ski chalet one long weekend. Oh, and I reserve the right to utterly spoil any of the books if they prove to have a story that's singular in its quality, craptitude, or discussability. If there are any recurring themes, plots, or character types, we'll track them as well. I'll be covering them in chronological order by publication date, except for a miniseries that we'll talk about when we get there. Just in case you want to go out and pick up the book for yourselves.
Somehow I missed out on reading these while they were actually age-appropriate, and now I'm going to make up for it with the Christopher Pike Book Club, where I, and I know this is a stretch, don't entirely spoil every detail of the book, but rather give an overview of the material. So, for reasons too boring to get into, I find myself with a near-complete collection of Christopher Pike's young adult horror/mystery novels.
0 kommentar(er)
